1. Field of Invention
The present invention relates to improvements in safety seats, and more particularly to safety seats having a multipoint harness buckling system wherein buckles can be fastened to slots located on the armrests or lift bar, thus reducing the time to secure a person into the safety seat.
2. Description of Prior Art
Safety seats exhibiting multipoint harness buckling systems are frequently used by racing enthusiasts, airline passengers, and children. While products developed thus far have improved safety by focusing on placement of shoulder and waist straps, they have lacked significant improvements in reducing the time to secure a person into the safety seat. Thus, it would be ideal to provide a product that would substantially reduce the time needed to securely strap a person into a safety seat.
Safety seats currently focus on ideal placement of safety harnesses to best secure a person to the seat. The benefit from improved placement of safety straps in a safety seat is a lower injury rate during accidents. However, the placement of buckles and harness straps on current safety seats is highly inconvenient and makes the process of securing a person to the seat more tedious. Safety seats in the prior art do not account for placement and location of the shoulder straps when a person is being placed into a safety seat; therefore, the securing process involves unnecessary extra steps. The prior art inefficiently teaches to rest shoulder harnesses against the backrest of a safety seat.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,104,134 issued to Cone discloses a convertible child's combination car seat and stroller, with slots placed on the armrests. However, the armrests are disclosed to be used for seat belts in the vehicle. The slots on the armrests are not used nor are they conceived to be able to adequately secure harness shoulder straps while placing a child or infant in the seat. A child or infant must still be moved forward in order to adjust the harness shoulder straps outward to secure the child or infant into the disclosed combination safety seat.
The Child Seat Device in U.S. Pat. No. 6,685,266, to Reagan et al. discloses a child seat with slots placed along the armrests; however, the armrests are disclosed to be used for the vehicle seat belts or as a securing point to a vehicle. The slots on the armrests are not used nor are they conceived to be able to adequately secure harness shoulder straps while placing a child in the safety seat, nor is it designed to facilitate placement of the child into the seat.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,478,372, to Lenmeyer et al. discloses armrests for infant or child car seats that include a slot along the armrests spaced cantilever from the seat portion. The armrests are intended to receive a box-shaped drink, so that potential movement of the drink box is inhibited when the vehicle is in motion. The armrests disclosed in the Lenmeyer et al. patent are not intended to interface and secure harness straps before placing a child in the safety seat.
The Child Safety Seat, U.S. Pat. No. 8,308,231, to Haut, discloses a storage area with one or more storage spaces where a parent, infant, or child can store one or more objects commonly used in baby care such as food, a drink, or toy. The storage spaces are intended to receive items for personal use and are not intended to secure the shoulder straps of a child seat to facilitate placement of the child or infant in a child seat. The invention to Haut does not improve or facilitate securing of the harness shoulder straps on a child in a safety seat.
Some armrests have been designed with a slot for receipt of a plug capable of transmission of electronic or video signals, as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,611,513, to Rosen. The invention to Rosen also does not improve or facilitate securing of the buckles or harness straps in a safety seat.
The aforementioned armrest embodiments on safety seats can be improved upon to receive a person and more easily secure a person into a safety seat without having to pull the shoulder straps out from behind the person after they are placed or place themselves into the safety seat. When using the aforementioned armrest embodiments, a person is generally in a state of discomfort from having to sit or lay on the harness assembly, and further discomfort or possible injury ensues when the person retrieves the harness assembly from behind and underneath the person in order to complete the buckling process. Thus, there is a need for an inexpensive system and method to help easily secure a person into a safety seat while avoiding the inconvenience of the safety straps that make securing difficult. The present invention accomplishes this and several other goals.